SCKL 2012 was my first full
marathon and it showed me where my physical and mental strength level was at.
My limit was 32km, that’s it. The next 10km was pure torture, mentally and
physically. It was like a battlefield in my mind, positive thoughts, negative
thoughts, bible verses, vulgar words, motivational quote, negative quotes, etc.
It really showed me who I really was, and it’s pretty disappointing. But this
marathon showed me which area I have to improve on if I wanna be ‘an influencer
and a role model’.
I reached KL by bus at about
3.30pm, walked from Pudu bus stop to Masjid Jamek to take the LRT to KLCC. That
was the meeting point for Soongs and I. I had about 3 hours to kill, so I went
to Kinokoniyo, not exactly the place you would find me, but the sports section
made me spend hours and dollars there. Tough decision to make as there are a
lot of sports books that I wanna read to improve myself as an athlete. In the
end, I settled for Lance Armstrong’s biography.
I then went to Starbucks and
started the book “Lance”. First 50pages of the book already made me go “wow, I
didn’t know this.” It is definitely worth my 60 bucks. Soongs was suppose to
meet me at 6.30pm but he came at 7.30pm. Was I surprise? The answer is NO. This
is a typical trait of Soongs. =p We had quick dinner at the food court and was
ready to go home to rest after that.
I bought a knee guard from
Watson and Soongs decided to have a 15 minutes hair cut somewhere in KLCC. I
went to the hair saloon and waited about 5minutes for him. On our way home, in
the LRT, I realized I lost my knee guard! I search high and low, in and out but
I still couldn’t find it. Soongs thought I was lying and I was in a delusion
because he never actually saw the Watson plastic beg when I was him. But I was
very sure I bought it. After reaching Kelana Jaya, I quickly walked into
Guardian and bought the same thing, only RM5 more expensive. I told the cashier
about the incident and she laughed. I blame Soongs for it!
Got back to his not so Home
Sweet Home and unpacked my stuff. Got my race bib number and pin it on my race
belt. The house was like an oven, super hot and being me so use to sleeping
shirtless with air con, this is gonna be a problem for me. I persuaded him to
turn on the air con and finally he did. (Long story about the air con. Funny
but nothing interesting) We talked a little in bed, shared bout life and
updating one another about our adventure. It was good time and it could be
better if Gerard was around. =) Then we can have a real agapean boys reunion.
Slept probably like 3hours
then it was go time. Suit up, and took the shuttle bus from KJ to Dataran
Merdeka. The crowd was building up but it wasn’t that crowded yet because we
were there about 4am. Spotted the 4.5 hour pacer and I was determine to stick
with him. My personal target was 4 hours 30 minutes and 2nd best
target was under 5 hours. As the emcee started the countdown, I was extremely
nervous and scared. My weekly mileage is less than 10k, how?
The gun went off, and first
1km was like a massive jam with people everywhere. I trail the pacer as near as
I could and hoping to stay with him as long as I could. There were a few guys
which ran directly behind him and its super hilarious to see the pacer’s
balloon bouncing against the guy’s head. At one point the pacer’s balloon burst,
not because of the runner behind him but because it struck a pointy tree branch
along the way. Fortunately they have 3 4.5hour pacer.
 |
| 4.5 hour pacer balloon |
20K. No problem wor. I even overtook the pacer and went up in front
at my own comfortable pace. So proud of myself.
30K. Oh…not bad wor. Still feel strong.
32K. Uh la la!!! Cannot liao, starting to feel cramp on both legs.
32.5K No!!!
33K What?!?!? Only ran 500 meters. Soon the pacer caught up, I
tried to stay with them but my legs don’t allow me too anymore. I gave up!
34K What I took almost 8 minutes? Never mind, let’s try something
different, run 1 minutes rest 30 seconds. (Something I do at the gym for speed
training)
35K Holy sh*t! Cannot liao. Please stop hurting the legs.
36K Uphill?!?!?! Wt…
37K Tears came down, a volunteer shouted 5 more km to go! But this
5K felt like eternity because every step you take hurts to my guts!!! When I
reach 37K point, I had 30minutes more before my target time. It looks
achievable but he hills, the cramp and the pain was already unbearable. Any
kind of motivation and inspiration quote DID NOT WORK from this point onwards.
38K @$(@#$)(@#*$#@(*$@#_)*!@)#(!*#
39K _$#)(_@#)$*)#*@&$)!@#+_!@)$+_!!
40K ($*@#)$(!&@)$(*!@_$)(!@&$)*@!&$)
41K $)(#@*$_)#@($*)@#($*)@#($*@#)($*
42.128K hallelujah!! PTL!
 |
| Showing off my medal =) |
I tried running my last k but
couldn’t at all, I walked jogged walked jogged and finally crossed the line as
a full marathon finisher with an official time of 4:48:05. 18minutes 5 seconds behind my target time. But the feeling
of finishing the marathon was priceless! A quote by some volunteer on a big
board, “Finish the marathon and brag about it for the rest of your life” at the
last 1K was really motivating. I can’t imagine myself doing an IronMan race or
another full marathon but I know after I recover from my race, I will wanna
push myself again and be more prepared for my future race.
Met Deriss at the finishing
line and chatted a bit with her before I head back to the Noesis waiting point.
Took some pics with Soongs and I went for a sports massage. RM20 for 15minutes,
only lower body but I was desperate for it, so RM20 felt small at the time but
the massage was fineeeee. Enjoyed it! Even recommended Soongs to get one. His
boss laughed at him because he only did a half marathon but still go for such
massages. Hahaha! Funny!
 Super good massage |
| Super duper good massage |
 |
| Hurts like anything |
I am not in the 1% group of
the world population (those that completed a full marathon), and I urge you
guys to try this, challenge yourself, I guarantee you, you will learn something
about yourself. But please train for it before signing up because it’s NOT easy
AT ALL. See you in PBIM 2012.
 |
| Soongs and I 2012 |
Next up 160K century ride.
